Cottage cheese: Ministry identifies fraud; understand – 05/11/2023 – Market

The Ministry of Agriculture announced this Wednesday (10) that it identified the addition of starch in samples of cream cheese and cream cheese without indication on the product label, which constitutes economic fraud, according to the folder.

Of the 180 samples collected in 66 establishments across the country, 9 showed the presence of starch.

The ministry claims that, for each of the irregular samples, it adopted tax actions such as precautionary seizure and assessment in administrative proceedings of the producing establishment.

According to Patrícia Blumer Zacarchenco Rodrigues de Sá, a researcher at Ital (Institute of Food Technology), the presence of starch in curd does not pose health risks, but must comply with item nine of the product’s technical regulation.

The norm says that, when the curd is added with condiments, the label must indicate the ingredient in the name.

“It won’t harm your health. However, because it contains starch, the product ends up taking less dairy ingredients and affects the sensory issue. A product that only has dairy ingredients will have a more pleasant taste,” he says.

The Map operation was carried out in nine states, namely Ceará, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Pará, Pernambuco, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo. The analyzes were carried out by the LFDA (Federal Agricultural Defense Laboratories).

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See the composition of cottage cheese:

mandatory ingredients

• Cottage cheese: milk or reconstituted milk
• Creamy cottage cheese: milk or reconstituted milk, cream and/or butter and/or anhydrous milk fat or butter oil

optional ingredients

• Rennet or suitable coagulants
• Cream
• Butter
• Anhydrous milk fat or butter oil
• solid of dairy origin
• Powdered milk
• Casein and caseinates
• sodium chloride
• Calcium chloride
• Dairy ferments or specific cultures
• Spice
• spices
• Other food substances